Sibley-Ocheyedan girls bring down the curtain on the Hawks’ season
It was a daunting task that was facing Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn. The Hawks were taking on the state’s fifth-ranked girls basketball team in Class 2A in front of a raucous crowd on that team’s home court. HMS fought to the finish but Sibley-Ocheyedan proved its mettle, leading wire-to-wire in winning the Class 2A Region 2 quarterfinal match-up 59-31 February 15 at Sibley. HMS saw its season draw to a close with a final record of 7-16.
The Generals took an early 5-0 lead and were in front 17-7 after one quarter of play. “Early in the game, Sibley-Ocheyedan came out and played a very aggressive full-court defense,” noted Hawk head coach Lester Tessum. “We turned the ball over some. They had a lot of crowd noise. Their fans were really into it. Things we weren’t used to. It was loud in there. Our team got a little rattled, I think, and (Sibley-Ocheyedan) took advantage of that.”
The Generals held a 26-9 advantage at halftime and expanded that to 49-23 lead after three quarters. “They’re just a really solid team, defensively and offensively,” praised Tessum. “You get down 10-15 points on a team like that, you’re going to struggle to come back, to try to get back in the game.”
The Hawks were outscored by only two points in the fourth quarter. “They just never quit playing,” stated their coach. “We battled right to the end of the game. We actually played a little better, scored some better buckets in the second half. They didn’t just lay down and say ‘Okay, You can have this game,’ they kept playing and worked hard. They’ve done that all year. They’ve played every game to the end.”
HMS shot 31 percent from the floor with 13 baskets in 42 attempts. The Generals were 25-of-52 to finish at 48 percent. Neither team scorched the nets from three-point territory as Sibley-Ocheyedan was 2-of-11 and the Hawks 0-for-10. The Generals were a tidy 7-of-8 from the free throw line where the Hawks went 5-for-10. HMS committed 26 turnovers compared to 15 for the home team.
Freshman Kylee Schiphoff led the Hawks with 12 points, seven rebounds and five steals. “Kylee has done a good job of improving and learning what we’re doing on offense and defense,” said Tessum. Jasmine Lux scored 11 points while Lydia Harders contributed four points, three rebounds, two steals and an assist. Emily Mutombo added two points and two rebounds with Gracie Knobloch notching two points and one rebound. Abby Douma came away with two steals. Elise Haack and Eliza Tewes each grabbed a rebound. Doing most of the damage for the Generals were Madison Brouwer, with 24 points, and Marissa Ackerman, with 19.
With the season concluded, Tessum took a look back, citing a particular area in which his team improved. “This is the third year with HMS for me and we’ve pretty much run a 2-3 zone for two-and-a-half years of that,” said the coach. “Prior to that, I coached pretty much all man-to-man. After Christmas this year we started going to a man-to-man defense and I was pretty proud that they picked that up well, how I wanted it played, and did a good job executing our man-to-man full court and half court defense on the floor.”
The HMS girls basketball program is losing seniors Harders, Lux and Emily Otto. “I’ve coached these three seniors now for three years,” noted Tessum. “Every year they come out and play as hard as they can. They’ve all three been good leaders of the younger girls. They come to practice with a smile on their faces every day, work hard and have just meant a lot to the team. Our wins and losses may not have shown it, but the girls had a lot of fun and the seniors brought a lot of that fun with them.”
HMS 7 2 14 8 – 31
SO 17 9 23 10 – 59